Tennis Court
by KiSierra
Summary: It all happens again the next day. Scott wakes him up too early, he lets Liam howl at the sky during their run, they eat breakfast without Lydia, and Stiles's first words to him are, "Were you the one making these noises of a dying kitten at the preserve?" \\ In which Scott has no mercy, Liam has to wake up at six in the morning, and Stiles is a smirking bastard.(3 in Pure Heroism)


**Piece number 3 in the AU series Pure Heroism.**

 **The lyrics are from songs of** _ **Lorde**_ ' **s album** _ **Pure Heroine**_ **. I don't own them or the characters.**

 **English is not my native language, so constructive criticism would be appreciated.**

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 **Summary**

It all happens again the next day. Scott wakes him up too early, he lets Liam throw his head back and howl at the sky during their run, they eat breakfast without Lydia, and Stiles's first words to him are, "Were you the one making these noises of a dying kitten at the preserve?"

\\\

In which Scott has no mercy, Liam has to wake up at six in the morning, and Stiles is a smirking bastard. Liam has no idea what to make of these people.

The lyrics to this oneshot are from Lorde's song _Tennis Court_.

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 **Tennis Court**

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 _Because I'm doing this for the thrill of it, killin' it_

 _Never not chasing a million things I want_

 _And I am only as young as the minute is full of it_

 _Getting pumped up from the little bright things I bought_

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Liam doesn't go to the lake house in the next day.

It's Wednesday, and it's not as hot as it should be during the summer vacation, and Liam's mom asks him to take Penny to the park because she has to go to work and, as far as she knows, he doesn't have any plans. He doesn't say anything.

He spends the day trying to go over the books his mom gave him for school and chasing his little sister, who hasn't learned to speak or walk yet, but still doesn't stop babbling and wandering on her wobbly baby limbs. All in all, it's pretty quiet, and he doesn't lose control once, not seriously.

He might have ripped an apple or two apart when he tried to bite into them. Nothing serious.

He tries not to think about the lake house and its three occupants. About how he should have come over there again today to start his 'training'.

He takes comfort from the fact that he has a valid excuse for not showing up - helping his mom with his sister and studying - but he's still uncomfortable. And he hates this feeling - he doesn't owe an explanation to anyone, right? - and it's not like he even agreed to come in the first place.

He still feels anxious.

By the evening he starts to get bored, but there's no one to hang with. He's still not feeling like talking to Kira, and certainly no one from the lake house trio.

He goes to sleep early. It's not like he has anything else to do.

Thursday is worse. He wakes up early after a long night of sleep, pumped up with energy, his sister in her new kindergarten and the house all for himself. With nothing to do.

He tries to study, really he does, but when the clock reaches ten in the morning he's ready to pull out hair. The words start to swim in front of him, and the time seems to pass in slow motion, and he thinks about spending the whole summer like this and can't stop the shiver in his hands as he throws the book away and growls, eyes stinging and sight sharpening into extra-focus.

He's about to tear down the house when a low, threatening rumble reaches his ears. He stops and perks his ears at the deep sound.

The door opens. He's not surprised to see his alpha standing there, eyes red and eyebrows raised. Liam's shoulders slump as he bows his head in submission.

He stays still as the alpha comes closer, not lifting his head as a warm hand touches his shoulder.

"Liam?" the alpha - _Scott_ \- asks roughly. He nods, eyes stinging again as his vision turns back to normal. His hands tremble just once.

He lifts his head. Scott looks at him closely, and after a moment the red bleeds out from his eyes. He nods too.

For a moment it's quiet. Liam starts running his defenses in his head nervously, sensing Scott's coming question of _where were you?_

"Come with me," he says instead, removing his hand and walking back to the door. He turns around to look at Liam, like he's making sure he follows, and Liam takes a stabilizing breath and does just that.

"Where are we going?" He tries to say it like he's fine.

Scott just looks ahead, to the preserve's direction, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Running."

And then they are. They run. Faster than any run Liam's ever had in his life. His legs are moving so fast it's a wonder he doesn't stumble, but his eyes are faster than his processing right now and his brain somehow keeps him stable. He is fast and strong and his head is almost lashing back from the force of the wind in his face. And something in him just… loosens, for the first time since he came to this town.

A laugh makes its way out of his mouth, startled but satisfied just like him, and he can see Scott's small smile spreading to a full-on grin, all teeth and predator. He runs faster. Liam stays right behind him.

He loses track of time. Loses track of anything. Something like elation takes over him, and he laughs again, wild and free, and suddenly it turns into a howl. Scott looks at him when he does that, but he doesn't say or do anything about it, so Liam keeps running and howling and basking in the feeling of letting go and _turning_. He takes the lead of their race around the woods, and Scott lets him.

The only time the alpha stops him, growling lowly in warning, is when Liam turns east. Towards the town. He ducks his head, exposes his neck, and resumes the running in a different direction.

It feels like forever before they stop. By that time Scott takes back the lead, slowing their pace into normal-rate running again, which makes Liam's heartbeat slow back to normal-rate again, and Liam shifts back to his human self.

When Scott finally makes a full stop Liam simply collapses. His lungs are burning. His insides are on fire. He feels weak and exhausted and he never before _moved_ so much like the did right now. Never.

He doesn't open his eyes to look at Scott, who's breathing hard but not sitting down. His senses are still too sharp, still alive from the run, and he knows exactly where Scott is standing and the exact moment he starts moving.

Liam doesn't move. A door opens and Scott lets it stay open when he walks into the house. Liam opens his eyes.

He is in the open field behind the house on the lake, the little bubble of another dimension where he met it's three occupants for the first time, two days ago. It's hot and the soil is sandy but hard and he stays where he is, just breathing and soaking it all in.

There's rustling inside and a few minutes later Scott comes back. Liam looks up at him and his stomach makes that choked sound at the sight of the two enormous sandwiches in his hands. Scott chuckles and hands one over.

They eat in silence. Liam is practically attacking his food, swallowing every last bit of meat he can find in there without even chewing. He's pretty sure he looks like an animal, and it's probably disgusting or hilarious or both, but Scott doesn't look at him so he just keeps going.

When they finish he feels much better. Scott turns to face him.

"As a werewolf," he says, and Liam isn't sure he manages to keep a little grimace from surfacing at the word, "you are capable of more. Your senses are heightened, you have claws and sharper teeth, the way your internal body parts are organized is better and thicker. You can be stronger and run faster and jump higher than any normal human. But when you do, you exhaust yourself. Your body isn't just wolf, it's also human. If you cause yourself physical effort, you exert yourself, and suddenly you're tired and weak and you need to recharge. In that case, before you do anything else, even sleep - you eat. Unless you want to risk going to the hospital, if it's possible, the first thing you take care of is eating. Got it?"

Liam nods, and Scott half smiles at him. "That was lesson number one about being a werewolf. Lesson number two - the full moon."

They spend the next hour or so talking. Scott tells him about the full moon and its effects, and losing control and turning unless you teach yourself not to. Unless you find an anchor.

He explains how anchors work. Liam feels his interests rising when Scott mentions his past girlfriend, Allison, because for some reason it's strange to imagine Scott as a human who goes to dates and has to do homework. Scott gives himself as an example of why his anchor is best to be his own self, so that nothing messy will ruin his control over himself.

Liam listens. It's hot but there's wind and it's very quiet, in a way that makes him feel alone and calm. Scott's voice blends with the scene and Liam feels safe.

Scott starts exercising with him. They do squats and heavy-lifting with a tree-trunk and pushups, and Liam is sweating and breathing hard but it feels pretty good. Rhythmic. He listens to his breaths and heartbeat and matches himself to them.

Sometime later he hears the entrance door opens. There's shuffling and a bang and a hissed curse, and Lydia's and Stiles's voices talking, and some more shuffling and banging.

"Is everything okay?" Scott shouts.

"Fine!" Stiles answers. "Except there was no beer and we're about to run out! Oh, and no apples too."

Apparently they were in the supermarket. They both walk past the door on their way inside. Liam concentrates on his heartbeat and doesn't look up from the ground, doesn't sit up from his pushups like Scott does.

He hears Lydia's clicking steps, probably wearing heels, as she passes the door without stopping and climbs up the stairs, not saying a word. Stiles's steps, heavier and slower, stop by the door.

It's quiet for a minute. Liam can feel his gaze on him, making him tense, and struggles to stay focused on his breathing. Something in the way Lydia ignores him and Stiles stares at him makes him feel uninvited. Intruding.

"Tell him to spread his shoulders before he collapses on himself," Stiles says eventually. Liam clenches his teeth and tightens them a bit more. He _is right here_.

Stiles snorts, probably laughing at him, and, to Liam's relief, resumes his walk on the way upstairs after Lydia.

They keep working.

Liam hears talking from the higher level, but he doesn't listen, and neither of the two comes back down. Eventually he does spread his shoulders, and yes, it helps. He doesn't say anything.

Scott brings out snacks when they finish the second round of heavy-lifting and Liam inhales it all, to Scott's amusement.

"We did this because working out is a great way to channel all the spare energy and heightened awareness," he explains. "It's been my way of calming down since a friend told me that's what helps him stay in control of himself. I think it might help you too. Unless you have something else in mind you think can help you, I won't mind trying."

Liam doesn't. He does have a few questions though, and Scott seems nice enough.

"How do you know Kira?"

"Ah, we have a few classes together. She's one of my closest friends. You used to live with her in her old town, right?"

"Yeah. So you're a senior?"

"Lydia and Stiles and I, yes. How old are you?"

"I'm about to be sixteen, in a few months. Do you all live here?"

"Sort of. Technically this was Lydia's grandmother's house, but she passed away and bequeathed it to Lydia. She is past her eighteenth birthday, so it actually belongs to her. We made it like our summer-house, I guess. Maybe we'll even stay here when school starts again."

Liam looks at the house, at the lake and the other-dimension open they're in. "Looks cool."

Scott looks at it too and smiles. "Yeah, it is."

He offers Liam to stay, says they're about to watch a movie. Liam stares at him for a moment, at a loss, but then catches himself and hurries to say he can't. Scott doesn't push. They run again, but this time it's easy and nice and Liam's heart beats steadily all along the way. Scott turns back when they reach the end of the preserve without asking Liam to come back tomorrow, so Liam assumes that's enough for now. He doesn't have any burning desire to go back to that house anyway.

* * *

He wakes up from the banging on his window.

He sits up, eyes blurry and hair all messed up. Scott looks at him from the other side of the glass, half smiling, and waves.

Liam gets up and opens the window groggily. "What are you doing here? It's," he casts a look at the clock, "only six thirty in the morning! And it's summer vacation!"

Scott doesn't look bothered. "Come on. It's better to do this early. We're going on a run."

They go out again. Liam wolfs-out again during the run in the woods, and they stop at the lake house again. This time Scott takes him inside for breakfast.

Stiles and Lydia are there, eating breakfast, eggs and toasts and salad, all looking fresh and smelling so great Liam's mouth waters.

Stiles is smirking about something he said, spreading butter on his toast. He has bags under his eyes, just like the last time Liam saw him, and he has this exhausted aura around him, all pale and jittery and frail. He still looks like he's kind of sick.

Lydia looks pretty much the same as well, organized from head to toe in perfect precision. She is laughing, actually smiling with her teeth, but the moment she sees Liam she stops, expression turning blank. He tries not to take it personally. She was cold with Kira too, right?

Only he has a feeling that was because of him. He hides a wince when she clears off her plate and goes upstairs before he even sits down, only saying "I'll be in the library if anyone needs me," and disappearing. No one says anything but "bye."

Scott gives him bread and omelet and salad and he actually eats a normal breakfast, unlike every other morning since the start of the summer. He swallows without chewing appropriately again, and Scott doesn't even look but Stiles does. In fact, he stares, the smirk coming back to his face.

"Gee, man, don't starve yourself or something," he snorts, pushing his plate away like he's not hungry anymore. Liam tries to ignore that too, waiting for Scott to say what he said yesterday, about fast metabolism and recharging and all of that.

He doesn't.

Liam doesn't say anything.

Scott takes him outside when they're finished and, much to his discomfort, Stiles follows. He sits himself down, a Rubik's cube in hand, and fiddles with it while Liam starts running around the open field the way Scott instructs him.

"You look like a puppy," Stiles chortles not even a minute later. "This concentrated look on his face, you're so _adorable_."

Liam grits his teeth and runs faster.

"Wait, is that your fastest? Scott can do it twice as fast."

"Shut up," Liam murmurs. Scott still doesn't say anything. His breaths start to come out shorter.

"Sorry, dude, I just can't stop when you make this face. Is that supposed to be your intimidating voice?"

Liam's fists clench. He lost his count on his heartbeat completely. A familiar ache takes over his whole body. _Stay in control, stay in control..._

Stiles laughs, actually laughs when Liam trips and falls over a stone. "Are you _trying_ to look ridiculous? Because it's working. Man, that was awkward."

Liam loses his last thread of control over that. His sight sharpening in a second, mouth and fingernails stinging, he straightens his back and growls at Stiles with his teeth bared.

Scott has him crouching on the ground in seconds, growling in his face, and he folds back immediately.

When he looks back up Stiles is still in his sprawled position, looking uncaring and cold and unimpressed, one eyebrow raised and that's all.

"Still not intimidating."

Liam barely holds back a growl.

The rest of the training is much like this. Liam does what Scott tells him too, Stiles makes fun of him, Scott stays uninvolved. Liam _tries_ , he really does, but he loses his control another two times before Scott claims it's enough for today. Both times Scott has this frown on his face that makes Liam shrink a bit and Stiles doesn't look deterred at all.

It's annoying. It's more than annoying. Stiles doesn't stop rambling, not for more than two minutes, and most of what he says are insults directed at Liam. They're not even good insults. There's a point where Liam realizes Stiles is doing this for the sake of doing this, nothing more. The jabs aren't friendly but they're not venomous and they do nothing but make him angry, never humiliating enough to make him feel like he has an excuse to lose control. It still puts Liam on edge and makes him tingle with the effort to contain his feral instincts. It messes his counting of his heartbeats and he doesn't manage to focus on anything but the urge to slice Stiles's guts open.

He wants to ask Scott, when they're running back to his house again and finally alone, what the hell is Stiles's deal. Liam never did anything to him, not that he's aware of, and Stiles doesn't even have a good reason to sit outside in the back with them when he can be inside enjoying air conditioner. Liam wants to ask if he's ever done anything to Lydia, because she seems to despise his presence in her lake house, and she never looks anything but detached when he's around.

But Scott didn't say anything the whole two hours during their time behind the lake house. So Liam doesn't ask anything as well.

* * *

It all happens again the next day. Scott wakes him up too early, he lets Liam throw his head back and howl at the sky during their run, they eat breakfast without Lydia, and Stiles's first words to him are, "Were you the one making these noises of a dying kitten at the preserve?"

Stiles follows them outside again, popping popcorn into his mouth like he promised when they first met, and Liam feels the last thread of hope this is somehow going to work out for him dying in his chest. Scott stays quiet, and so does Liam, unless he loses control and snaps or actually turns. It doesn't help his situation anyway, only seeming to fuel Stiles every time.

Lydia shows her face in the middle of their training. She stands by the door and watches, all blank eyes and straight back, while Liam grits his teeth and Stiles snickers. A few minutes later she says, "Don't do more than seventy-three pushups," formal and empty, and leaves without another word. Really, it's nothing new. Liam still has no idea what to make of her except for weird. Scott stops him at sixty anyway.

He wolfs out only twice during this day. Scott smiles at him when they go back home. Liam doesn't return the gesture.

Kira texts him. She says she'd like to meet up and watch a movie or something, she's so bored she's about to go crazy and her mom isn't helping at all with all the chores she's giving her. She finishes it with, _hope you're having fun in the lakehouse :)_. He doesn't know how to answer that.

"Liam!" his mom exclaims happily when she comes home at that evening, a sleeping Penny in her hands. "Where have you been this morning? Are you making yourself some friends?"

"Yeah," he mumbles. "Friends."

He's too tired to be worried of losing control at home anymore, too physically and mentally exhausted. He goes to sleep early, without even looking at his books, again.

He wakes up at six in the morning, a few minutes before he hears the familiar banging from the window.

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Stiles looks worse today, his shoulders tense and the bags under his eyes heavier than usual. He's more vicious than usual as well. When he makes a disparaging comment about making Liam's parents proud after Liam breaks his own record of heavy-lifting, Liam is losing it again, for the first time in his fourth day of training. Only this is a different kind of losing it.

He has Stiles against a tree trunk faster than the normal eye can fathom. "What the hell is your problem?"

Stiles blinks. "Liam!" Scott cries, halfway shifted, and Stiles narrows his eyes.

"Don't worry, Scott, the big bad puppy just lost his temper again, hasn't he?"

Liam tightens his hold. His fingernails sting, but he keeps his breathing stable. "No. I'm in perfect control," he growls. "I just don't get what is wrong with you."

For the first time since they met, Stiles doesn't say anything, just looks at Liam mockingly, eyebrows raised. Liam grits his teeth.

"You keep saying this shit all the time but I haven't done anything to you. What are you even doing here? This has nothing to do with you."

Stiles still doesn't say anything. His face morphs into a blank stare. Liam narrows his eyes. "Trust me when I say I didn't ask for any of this. I don't want to be a werewolf, I don't want to lose control or train, I don't want to be stuck in this _freaky_ place with you, okay? I don't _want_ _you_."

A moment of silence passes. Stiles stares at him, and Liam stares back, every inch of his body twisting with anger. And something, glowing between orange and yellow, quivering like a fleeting flame, spreads, just for a moment, in Stiles's eyes, like it's right behind his pupils. Then it's gone. But Liam knows what he saw.

"Seems like I control myself better than you do," he hisses.

He feels the shift these words bring. The way the blankness gets covered by a mocking expression, Stiles's head tilting to the side, a smile so humorless and ugly and dead spreading over his face that Liam lets go and steps back. Stiles watches his hasty retreat with something amused and sharp and bitter.

"Congratulations, Liam," he says, and Liam startles, just a bit, because this is the first time Stiles actually says his name. "You just finished phase two of control training. Keep up the great pace, yeah?"

And then he leaves, shutting the door behind himself just like Liam did six days ago, and Liam stares at it, frustration and confusion taking over his determination. Behind him, Scott sighs.

"Let's go for a run," he says quietly. Liam follows him into the woods with a frown but without a word.

They run fast, but not long enough for Liam's blood to start pumping in his veins. Scott slows them down to a walk only ten minutes later.

"Stiles and I were training you together," he says. Liam doesn't look up, keeping his eye on the ground so he won't trip. "I trained you physically, as a way of calming down, like I told you. Stiles was, well, aggravating you. The goal was to make sure you stay in control even when you're angry."

"Phase two?" Liam asks quietly.

"Yeah. Turning into a wolf is something that can be controlled, Liam. If you manage to keep your pulse steady, if your heart rate doesn't rise too high, you stay human. You're part of the pack now. We had to make sure you know how to calm yourself and stay stable when your mood swings. Stiles wouldn't have harassed you like that for no reason, and I wouldn't have stayed silent about it for no reason." Scott stops and puts his hand on his shoulder. "It was just to train you, and it worked, so it's over. You made it. Okay?"

Liam swallows and doesn't look up. "Okay."

Scott leaves his shoulder and continues their stroll, sighing again. "Listen. Stiles, Lydia… I… We've all been through things, okay? There were nonstop troubles we had to face ever since I got bitten two years ago."

"You were bitten?" Liam asks, looking up in surprised. For some reason, with all the experience and knowledge Scott seems to have, the idea that he was bitten never occured to Liam.

Scott looks at him. "When I was your age. Stiles and I were in the preserve in the middle of the night, getting ourselves into trouble as usual. Stiles was busted by his dad, so I was left here alone. Something came out of the shadows and bit me. I healed fast and became faster and stronger, and it was all cool and awesome, until I lost control and almost killed Stiles. I almost hurt people more than once." Despite the seriousness of what he says, there's a small, nostalgic smile on Scott's lips. "We had no idea what we were doing. What we were supposed to do. There was another werewolf, Derek, but he wasn't very helpful. He just threatened us most of the time. We were flying blind." He looks at Liam again and his eyes sparkle with laughter. "You're lucky. When Stiles tried to teach me to control myself, he threw balls at me and got me in trouble with some guys so they'll beat me up."

Liam gapes at him. "He really did that?"

Scott smiles crookedly. "Yup. He was pissed at me after I messed something up. But it worked, so I can't complain."

Liam blinks. It sounds like they were completely clueless, like Scott says. Like they were just teenagers with nothing to do except being silly and funny and get each other into trouble. It's so different than the sobered mood in their lake house Liam has a hard time imagining it.

Scott's smile disappears. "Anyway, what I wanted to say is. Things happened since then. Things went wrong. We're all fine today, mostly, but experiences like these can change people. Stiles and Lydia aren't the peak of friendliness, but it's hard for them to have someone they don't know around the house. So getting along might take some time." They lock eyes again. "Just give them a chance, okay?"

Liam thinks about Lydia stopping by the door for a few minutes and giving him a strange tip. He thinks about Stiles throwing insults at him until he doesn't shift from anger.

He has no idea what to make of them. He thought he was getting the general image, but now he's back to zero understanding. They might be hostile. They might be trying to help.

"Yeah, okay," he finds himself saying. Scott smiles at him again.

"Good. Say hello to Kira from me, will you?"

"What?" Liam looks around. They are at the edge of the preserve, one of Beacon Hills' streets stretching before them. He can see what he recognizes as Kira's car rounding a corner and moving towards them.

"I called her earlier," Scott says, following the vehicle with his eyes. "I think you two should spend some time together. She really likes you. Besides, she's part of the pack. You should get to know each other better."

Liam looks at her bright smile through the windowpane as she parks in front of them. He smiles back.

"Thanks," he says. Scott pats his back.

Maybe it won't be so bad after all.

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 _Getting caught soft with the triple is it_

 _I fall apart, with all my heart_

 _And you can watch from your window_

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 **Stay tuned, there will be more.**

 **Hope you enjoyed :)**


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